Lists

Senator Lautenberg of New Jersey is concerned that American citizens who have not been convicted of a crime, avow that they not users of illegal drugs, and have not been judged silly can purchase a firearm at a gun store, even though they are on the government's terrorist watch list.

In order to get on said list, you must at least do something that might, maybe, kinda sorta could link you to terrorism, but didn't get you arrested.  The list is created by the Justice Department and approved by the Attorney General.  You can be put on the list, stay on it for a while, and then be taken off without you even knowing.

Senator Lautenberg wants to stop people from being guns because they are on a secret, arbitrarily populated government list.  Not because they've actually broken the law and been convicted, but because some government functionary decided you were an icky person.

Folks, I guarantee that I am on at least a few lists:

• I'm a veteran
• I've held a security clearance with "Burn Before Reading" caveats scattered across it.
• Incidents I've been involved with have been investigated on at least two occasions by the FBI. (I wasn't the subject of the investigations, but I was advised to bring a lawyer when the nice Special Agent interviewed me)
• I've travelled extensively throughout Europe, including the old Warsaw Pact and the Former Soviet Union.
• I've maintained addresses and bank accounts in both neutral and semi-hostile countries.
• I'm a gun owner and member of several 2nd Amendment organizations
• Probably a few reasons I can't think of at the moment

All of these activities probably landed me on some list or another.  Not that I'm important or paranoid enough to believe the government is watching me, but I'm pretty sure an Freedom of Information Act inquiry for all of my federal records would be non-trivial. 

But none of these activities has been used against me to stop me from attending whatever church I happen to stumble into, write to my newspaper, refuse to participate in a criminal investigation, or any of the other rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights.  Why should they stop me or any other U.S. citizen, who can otherwise pass a background check, from exercising our 2nd Amendment rights to keep and bear arms?

Folks, if they can strip one right without giving you your day in court, then they can strip all of your rights by checking a box on a form.